Back in Bangkok before meeting a new generation in Melbourne

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Martin Moodie
Martin Moodie is the Founder & Chairman of The Moodie Report.

If today was not an endless highway
If tonight was not a crooked trail
If tomorrow wasn’t such a long time
Then lonesome would mean nothing to you at all

– Tomorrow is such a long time, Bob Dylan

I’m in the most interim of Moodie Davitt Report Bureauxs, stopping off for just over half a day at the Novotel Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport Hotel. Tomorrow morning in the early hours I’ll take a Thai Airways flight down to Melbourne Airport, Australia to catch the opening of Dufry’s much-anticipated ‘new-generation’ store. I get in mid-evening, so it’ll be a full working day 35,000 feet up in the sky.

The modernity of this vast (612-room) Novotel is a sharp contrast to Samui Airport, from where I flew earlier today. It’s one of those lovely little regional airports that evokes a different era of travel. And, in the form of the Harnn boutique, it has one of the nicest airport shops you will find in any airport, big or small. Harnn is a Thai producer of natural bodycare, skincare and home spa products, all created through a holistic Asian approach to wellbeing. One almost feels better just entering the place. Wafting aromas, beautiful merchandising and some really interesting products. I’m sure it attracts some very good average spends. It certainly did in my case.

Tonight will be a typical one in one of my interim Bureauxs. Room service, a couple of glasses of wine, some good tunes on Spotify and trying to make some inroads on a vast editorial backlog. Next stop Melbourne. London, and home, seems a long way off. And tomorrow is such a long time.

Check-in with a difference at Samui Airport
All aboard: Samui Airport’s distinctive bus service heads out onto the runway

The Harnn boutique at Samui Airport, a feast of the senses

And now for a slightly larger airport….